NCAA makes things easier for SEC, 'Power 5'

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston leads his team in celebration after winning the BCS Championship earlier this year. Florida State, along with Ole Miss and Mississippi State, could benefit further from the NCAA ruling on Thursday(Photo: Kevin C. Cox Getty Images)

The NCAA voted Thursday to allow the "haves" and the "have-nots" to operate under separate sets of rules. And the chasm between SEC members, such as Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and non-members, such as Southern Mississippi and Jackson State, just got wider.

After poring through an an 82-page document, the Division I board of directors voted Thursday in Indianapolis to allow the Power 5 conferences (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12) to approve measures considered beneficial for their football players. This involves the regulation of financial stipends, athletic scholarships, insurance benefits and contact with sports agents.

Next steps: Before any new regulations can begin, there will be a nomination and vetting process for members of various committees, which will include student athletes. The committees will draft an agenda that will be considered at the NCAA's January convention. New legislation likely would take effect for 2015-16 school year.

What does this mean for SEC schools, like Ole Miss and Mississippi State: Instead of having one vote among 365 NCAA-member schools, the Power 5 schools can determine legislation among its 65 members. The new subdivision likely will offer larger stipends to players and be attached to the most valuable bowl games with the higher payouts.

What does this mean for non-Power 5 schools, like Southern Mississippi and Jackson State: It is likely these schools will have a more difficult time scheduling games against the Power 5 schools. Most of those conferences are playing at least nine games within their respective conferences, leaving few spots to fill on a 12-game schedule. And with less money to give, certainly recruiting top talent will become more difficult.

What does this mean for the Power 5 football player: In principle, the player will be paid more, go to the best bowl games and have the ability to meet with agents.

What does this mean for the Power 5 fans: If these schools have larger stipends and more benefits, then logic says there is a likelihood of higher ticket prices for football games.

Food for thought for the non-Power 5 schools: One coach, SMU's June Jones, raised more than a few eyebrows when he suggested the non-Power Five leagues play in the spring. "I think the have-nots (non-Power Five leagues) should go ahead and move to the spring just like the USFL did," Jones told a Dallas radio station. "I think that there's an opportunity to do a complete other side of that division and I think that if we don't think that way as a group of have-nots, we're going to get left behind."

VOICES

Mike Slive, SEC commissioner: "Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. With Eisenhower's admonition in mind, we have created the initiative to restructure the NCAA in accordance with our vision for the 21st century with the support of student-athletes at its core. It is critical for the NCAA to change, and to change in accordance with the vision proposed … by the five conferences."

Boise State President Bob Kustra: "The NCAA cannot fall prey to phony arguments about student welfare when the real goal of some of these so-called reformers is create a plutocracy that serves no useful purpose in American higher education."